Appropriation vs. Appreciation

Rachel Dolezal has admitted that she is white, alerting the rest of the world to a suggested fact that has been circulating for months. If you believe this may have signaled the beginning of some real reflection and self-realization for Dolezal, prepare to be further disappointed. Instead, she remains as deluded about race as ever — despite the fact that she was once the president of the NAACP Spokane chapter.

During an interview with the hosts of The Real — a talk show featuring a panel made up entirely of women of color that is an alternative to The View — Dolezal further upset audiences when she continued to preach the idea that whiteness is merely a “state of mind.”

Dolezal does finally own up to the fact that she is a white woman, saying, “I acknowledge that I was biologically born white to white parents, but I identify as black.”

When asked what it means to her to be black, Dolezal responded, “You know, sometimes how we feel is more powerful than how we’re born. Blackness can be defined as philosophical, cultural, biological — it’s a lot of different things for a lot of different people. And I think you do have to walk the walk if that’s who you are.”

Has Dolezal truly “walked the walk” as a black woman in America? Dolezal sure thinks so: “I think walking the walk in terms of philosophical and cultural…I think you’re talking about then changing it to ‘a black woman’ — is there a singular experience?”

Tamar Braxton then made the excellent point that, “Absolutely. There are opportunities that I might not get that you can have only because of the color of my skin…Even as successful as I am now there are lots of doors I can’t walk into that you can definitely walk into…Have you ever experienced anything like that?”

To which Dolezal further proved she’ll never realize who she is, responding with an eye-roll worthy, “The police mark ‘black’ on my traffic tickets.”